Tornadoes bring a season of destruction: An editorial

Metro New Orleans residents know well that bad weather can turn deadly. At least the worst conditions around these parts generally come during hurricanes, which allow ample warning to evacuate.

P.C. Piazza, The Lafayette Daily Advertiser, via The Associated PressResidents look at damage from a tornado that killed one person and injured nine in Rayne, La., on March 5. Another storm system this past weekend left 47 dead and scores injured accross the South.

But many communities across the Southern United States got little or no warning as monster tornadoes over the weekend left a trail of death and destruction. From Thursday to Sunday, the storm system spawned more than 200 twisters and killed at least 47 people in several states, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage as well.

North Carolina was hit the hardest. At least 23 people died and hundreds were injured in the state's deadliest day for tornadoes since 1984. The amount of destruction made it hard for crews to look for survivors, and people from other states -- including some metro New Orleans residents -- were having difficulty Monday contacting relatives in North Carolina. In Arkansas, Alabama and Virginia the violent storm killed seven people in each state. Two others died in Oklahoma and one in Mississippi.

Several relief organizations are working to assist authorities and provide shelter for hundreds of families, and residents here can contribute to that effort by donating money or volunteering to help.

The weather service said the conditions that bred the weekend's storms occur on the Great Plains maybe twice a year, but they almost never happen in North Carolina. That underscores the unusual nature of the storm system and its destruction.

The latest storms only added to the already grim tally from bad weather this spring.

A storm that swept through the South on April 6 left nine people dead, including a father and the 4-year-old son he was holding in his arms; they both died when an enormous tree limb crashed into their home in Georgia. The sight of the lifeless boy in his dead fathers' arms was so wrenching that even veteran rescuers wept, according to the Associated Press.

Those are strikingly similar circumstances to the death of Jalisa Granger last month in Rayne, west of Lafayette. The 21-year-old was sheltering her child from a tornado's winds when a tree crashed into her home. The blow killed her, but her child survived.

Some of this season's storms have reached down into our metro area, although so far without causing any casualties or serious injuries.

A storm in early March unleashed multiple tornadoes and damaged 58 homes in St. Tammany Parish. Another system two weeks later, possibly accompanied by tornadoes, severely damaged a few apartments and businesses on the West Bank.

No one is immune from bad weather, of course, and we can only hope the season's worst has passed. In the meantime, we can help those in need now -- for we know what it's like to be on the receiving end.